Filing device



M. H. TEELE FILING DEVICE Filed Oct. 16, 1928 N m Q' -n o N a I Place (II/ks 0n l/aas n: Papers are :added.

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Afroauevs Patented Aug. 6, 1929.

MARY H. TEELE, OF SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND.

FILING DEVICE.

Application filed October 16, 1928. Serial No. 3112,2 95.

My present invention relates to means and methods for forming what I have, for con venience herein, termed books of sheets of paper, such letters, records, data sheets, and the like. My invention is particularly adapted for forming book files of correspondence, records and other loose-leaf data, so that the sheets up to a given date will be attached more or less permanently together and yet so that later-received sheets can be readily added to the file and also be permanently attached without disturbing the previously filed sheets.

In the annexed drawing and the following specification, I have described an illustrative embodiment of my invention as it might be applied to a correspondence file, though it will be understood that it is only one of the many uses for which my invention may be used.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a front view of the file as it is completed; Fig. 2 is a portion of an uncompleted file; Fig. 3 is similar to i Fig. 2, but with the outer portion of the folded binder removed; Fig. i is a section on line 4-4; of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 illustrates the methed by which the form of binder shown in'Fi 1 may be made.

In the illustrative embodiment, the binder which is to enclose the sheets or letters is a folded piece of paper or the like having the portions 10 and 11 folded along the line 12. Such a binder may be manufactured conveniently from a strip, as shown in Fig. 5, by perforating the strip along the lines 13, 14, 15. It will also be desirable to print. the instructions shown in Fig. 5 011 the strip before it is perforated. Each triangular portion is separated from the strip along the lines of perforation and folded.

It will be noted that, in the illustrative embodiment, a series of spaced marks numbered 1 to 8, inclusive, are printed along one edge of the folder, the numbering beginning at a point adjacent the fold.

In the illustrative embodiment, the first sheet or set of sheets to be filed is then placed between the folded portions 10, 11 with their edges against the fold 12 and fastener 1, which, as illustrated, is the usual two-legged staple, is inserted through the top folded portion 10, the sheets and the bottom folded portion 11.

When the second sheet or set of sheets is to be inserted in the file, the corner of each sheet of such second set is cut away so that such secondset can be superimposed on the first set, with its side edge against the fold 12, this cutting-away being necessitated by the fastener 1. extending through the first set. Such cutting-away, in my preferred form, is shown at 16 in Fig. 3. Fastener 2 is now inserted at the part marl-zed 011 10, this fastener extending through both sets of letters as well as both folded portions.

This operation is repeated for each set of sheets to be added to the file, the cut-away portion being greater for each successive set, as shown at 17 and 18 in Fig. 3, to prevent the preceding fastener from interfering with the insertion of the set in the binder.

lVhen the binder has been filled to its capacity, one or more fasteners may be in sorted, as shown at the points marked final clip in Figs. 1 and 2.

lVhile I have shown the back portion 11. of the binder as the same size as the front portion, it will be understood that it may be made of any size desired, as, for example, the same size as the sheets to be filed. Since the folded binder will ordinarily be of relatively heavy paper or the like, this extended back portion will serve as a protection for the file in handling it and in inserting in a filing cabinet or the like.

WVhile I have shown the front portion 10 of a triangular shape and relatively small, it will be understood that it may be of any desired shape and size, though it should be smaller than the sheets to be bound and should be of such shape as not to cover portions of the sheets which carry reading matter and the like.

It will also be obvious that. the binder can be applied to edges of the sheet other than those which I have chosen for purposes of illustration. For instance, the binder may extend for the greater portion of the side edge of the sheets and the fasteners inserted at spaced intervals along that side edge, instead of along the top edge, as in the illustrative form.

I claim:

1. The method of binding letters or the like which comprises folding a binding sheet material to provide two portions such that one portion is smaller than the sheets to be bound, inserting the first sheets between said portions with their side edges against the fold, inserting a fastener through said portions "of the first set of sheets, inserting the second set of sheets between said portions and over the first set of sheets and inserting a fastener through said portions and both sets of sheets.

2. A book of superimposed sheets, comprising a piece of sheet material folded to form a front and a rear portion, said sheets being divided into groups of one or more sheets, said sheets being positioned between said portions with a side edge of each sheet against the fold, and a row of fasteners spaced along one edge of said sheets with each fastener extending through both of said portions and one or more of said groups, the sheets of each group except one having a recess adjacent said fasteners and extending inwardly from two intersecting edges of the sheets, and the recesses being progressively wider in the successive groups from bottom to top of the book, to permit the fasteners to pass through a number of groups in accordance with the distanceof a fastener from the sheet edge.

3. A book of superimposed sheets, comprising a piece of sheet material folded to form a front and a rear portion with the front portion smaller than the sheets and triangular in outline, said sheets being divided into groups of one or more sheets, said sheets being positioned between said portions with aside edge of each sheet against the fold, and a row of fasteners spaced along one edge of said sheets with each fastener extending through both of said portions and one or more of said groups, the sheets of each group except one having a recess adjacent said fasteners and extending inwardly from two intersecting edges of the sheets, and the recesses being progressively wider in the successive groups from bottom to top of the book, to permit the fasteners to pass through a number of groups in accordance with the distance of a fastener from the sheet edge.

t. A book of superimposed sheets. comprising a piece of sheet material folded to form a front and a rear portion with the front portion smaller than the sheets and triangular in outline, said sheets being divided into groups of one or more sheets, said sheets being positioned between said portions with a side edge of each sheet against the fold,a row of fasteners spaced along one edge of said sheets with each fastener extending through both of said portions and one or more of sait groups, the sheets of each group except one having a recess adjacent said fasteners and extending inwardly from two intersecting edges of the sheets, and the recesses being progressively wider in the successive groups from bottom to top of the book, to permit the fasteners to pass through a number of groups in accordance with the distance of a fastener from the sheet edge, and a filial fastener extending through all of said sheets and both of said portions at a point adjacent: an edge of the sheets other than the one adjacent said row of fasteners.

MARY H. TEELE. 

